big concerns they naif found a breathing space in afghanistan. >> if they have a breathing space in afghanistan, we are nearing a decade mark in this conflict. can you push al qaeda out of afghanistan permanently, and the subquestion in that scenario has been when will the afghans be ready to do this themselves? when will they take the lead in the army and police? where are we there? >> reporter: very difficult to answer that. the immediate reaction is the afghans are nowhere near ready. the bulk of the army, the guys we saw in that piece, that report back there, only 5 out of 15 willing to go on patrol one morning. many patrols turned back because the afghans weren't ready to go down. concerns there certainly if they are trying to hunt down the remnants of al qaeda or perhaps returning al qaeda elements within pakistan, those are afghan army soldiers we came across on the job. frankly, also the american presence isn't strong or sophisticated or maybe well equipped enough to go after those elements as those al qaeda fighters they seem to face in the large operation they conducted last month, jo